Has it ever been a long time...

Hola Amigos!!!!!

I've been so busy, I haven't taken a second to get on here and say hi to you all. School is over, and I've left Guatemala...but a lot happened before that.

Semana Santa...

Easter Week is one of the biggest celebrations all year in Central America. Guatemala, and especially Antigua, is primarily Catholic. The Catholic church in Antigua has amazing festivities that last all week, and people come from all over the country...and the world to see them. Everyday, sometimes two or three times a day, there were HUGE processions with hundreds and sometimes up to a thousand Guatemalans parading down the street in purple robes and carrying massive floats with Jesus and the Virgin Mary. It acts out the Catholic stations of the cross, as Jesus makes his way to be crucified. On the evening of Good Friday, Jesus comes out in a glass casket and the costumes turn black. They are pretty incredible and the entire town comes out to see. It kind of felt like I was at a carnival though...people with balloons for the kids...spinny toy things and cotton candy followed every procession.

But the most amazing part of Semana Santa was the alfombras. Families in every part of the city go in front of their homes, sometimes as early as 4 in the morning, to construct incredible carpets for the processions. Some are made of vegetables, grass and flowers and other make elaborate designs with coloured sawdust. They spend houuuuuuuuuurs making them and five minutes later, the procession comes and tramples them. I was so sad every alfombra I saw ruined, but my family just laughed at me. Sure they were beautiful, but they weren't made for us, they were made for Jesus.

The whole process is incredible. I had the opportunity to make 2 sawdust alfombras with my family. And everyone was there. Alllll the kids and grandkids. They all take part and all seem to know what they are doing. I couldn't imagine something like that happening in Canada with my family. I love you guys...don't get me wrong...but picturing us making an alfombra together is a funny thought. My mom would try and get everyone involved, my dad would take an extreeeeeemely long time making the designs meticulous, I would invite my friends over and we would just be silly, my brothers would work because they had to but probably be complaining, and Ashley and Alex would probably get bored and go down the street to find friends to play with. I just think it's a pretty amazing tradition.

Laurel and I building an alfombra

Semuc Champay...

Semana Santa is crazy, and the population of Anitgua almost doubles at the time. So I took three days at the beginning and went for a little trip to Semuc Champay with Clive and Janey, Melissa, Katie and Sabrina. Semuc Champay is a nature park in the rainforest in the central part of the country. we stayed in the town of lanquin, about a half an hour drive away, and went into Semuc for a daytrip. The most amazing part was Las Cuevas de Las Marias...the natural caves beside the river. We had a two hour cave tour that consisted of holding candles while we swam, climbing little metal ladders and jumping of cliffs into deep pools for swimming. It was pretty incredible...and I was so impressed as Clive did pretty much all of it. For a 67 year old...he is an adventurous man. After the tour, they put us in tubes and we floated down the river in the sprinkling rain to our restaurant for lunch. In the afternoon, he went into the park, that consists of beautiful and clean natural pools that are situated in rock above a huge waterfall. They were incredible to swim in...especially when it started pouring rain and the girls let me belt out broadway musicals...

Because of the rain, the already crazy muddy drive back to our hotel was quite an adventure. We had a take a couple of runs up one very slippery hill...but Carlos our driver was quite skilled. It was a bumpy ride...but was not nearly as bad for me as the ride on the way from Antigua to our hotel on the first day. The day before, Katie and Sabrina and I had watched a procession and decided to grab a quick lunch from the vendors set up in the park. I had a deliciouuuuus sausage taco...but I don't think my tummy like it too much. Katie and I were sick the entire car ride there and the whole first night. Thank goodness we woke up in the morning absolutely fine to explore some caves.

In front of the waterfall

Clive and Janey at Semuc

My Birthday/Easter...

What an amazing day. I went out the night before to Fridas Mexican restaurant with Katie, Sabrina, Melissa, our Gautemalan friend Elmer, Our Korean roommate Min, and his friends Tony and Eric. Speaking three languages at the table is always my favourite part. I adore the Koreans. They are such gentle and kind people. I feel very blessed to have met them and spent time volunteering with them the last few months. Anyways...I made the mistake of drinking two iced coffees after 10 o'clock at night...

At midnight, we all went to central park and I had Happy Birthday sung to me in 3 languages. It was a treat. Katie and Sabrina and I went home with the coffee in our system and watched 3 or 4 episodes of 24. Adam was really sick before he left in May, and couldn't move for a couple of days. So he rented a lot of movies and managed to get us all addicted to 24. My warning: Do not start watching that show.

Needless to say, we did not go to bed. At 5 Katie and I walked over to Melissa's house and picked her up for a sunrise Easter service at the hill with the cross that looks over the city. It was a beautiful service and a beautiful view.

Katie and Melissa at the service in above the city

Later in the day, we all headed over to Clive and Janey's house where Melissa and I dressed Katie us like a bunny and hid eggs for everyone. About 20 students came over and searched for eggs and ate the cake Janey bought for me. Janey tried to give everyone surprises with cake on their birthdays...however she made the mistake of mentioning in Semuc Champay that someone had a birthday on the 8th and she needed help planning it. Haha. It was mine. So I had the opportunity to plan my own birthday.

Easter at Clive and Janey's

My Birthday

At night, Sabrina was sooooooooo fabulous and took Katie and I out for a very fancy and very nice dinner. They even let her do the thing where she can smell the cork before drinking the wine...why...I have no idea...

All in all...it was a wonderful day...

End of School...

April was a bittersweet month in Antigua. All 4 of our Korean roommates left. I had exams and papers and presentations coming out of my ears! I think they all went really well, especially my Economics project. On Sunday, we had 5 HOURS of presentations...on economics...I doesn't sound like it would be very interesting...but I was really impressed with the jobs that everyone did and enjoyed them a lot.

Watching economics presentations

Cameroooooooooon!!!

Last Wednesday, Cameron showed up (haha, saying that makes it sound so sporadic, but really it was planned a while ago) in Guatemala. I couldn't do a lot with him last week because I was soooooo busy with exams and presentations, but he explored the city and took a butt load of pictures.

Cameron in the market town of Chichicastenango

With Meghan at the final party

We left Antigua on Tuesday after a pretty emotional goodbye for me...and now we are in Costa Rica!!!! We spent a night in San Jose at a pretty amazing hostel and are now on the beach in Jaco on the Pacific. It is beautiful...humid...and I saw a huge lizard today! We went for a little hike/trek through the rainforest this morning. Climbed a waterfall, climbed some rocks, and sat down to enjoy the left over Pizza Hut from last night. That's right...little Jaco Costa Rica has a Pizza Hut, a Subway, a Quiznos and a KFC. I've found I've barely needed spanish here at all! Sometimes people who do speak English as well let me speak Spanish to them because I want to...but it's really not necessary.

The view from our hotel in Jaco, Costa Rica.

Our room has a little kitchenette in it, so we've bought some food to make Quesedillas tonight. Yum Yum Yum!!!!!

Miss you all, love you all....and I'm dreadfully sorry about not writing in a month! Please update me!!!!!

The city and trips

Hola hola! I hope Canada is doing well…I hear it’s really warm in Ontario…actually warmer than I’ve been for the past couple of days. If you’d believe that…

Last week was a pretty crazy week. It started off with a trip to Guatemala City. I’d been putting off going to the city because I was really nervous. You hear all these stories about buses getting robbed and gang activity in the city, and I really did not want to go. But Meghan, Krysten and I found an NGO in the city that we really wanted to visit for our NGO class, so last Monday, we hopped on a bus. The city is about 45 minutes away from Antigua when it isn’t rush hour, then it’s about 2 hours. But it was a quick drive on a full chicken bus (painted school bus) with three person to each seat. We stopped off at the mall, because Deanna was with us and wanted to spend the morning looking for a lab coat. Deanna is the token science student in the group and has been volunteering at the National hospital, and thought she may be able to get her uniform at the mall, which I think she found at some medical supply store. Meghan, Krysten and I grabbed a cab from the mall to the house where the NGO is run out of. It was in a really nice neighbourhood in Zone 13. The NGO is incredible. It’s called “fotokids”, and is aimed at giving education to kids from neighbourhoods where they wouldn’t normally get an opportunity. But it does it in a very creative way. 15 years ago Nancy McGirr, an American photographer, was doing a story on the families who live and work in the Guatemala City dump (there are over 4000 families who make their homes in the dump). She noticed the kids were interested in her camera and let them take a couple pictures. When the pictures they took were actually really good, Nancy wrote to Kodak in Japan and they donated I think 8 cameras with film for the kids. The kids went around their homes taking pictures, and Nancy sold some print cards to tourists. With the money from the print cards, she bought backpacks, notebooks, pens and paper and started to send the kids to school. In 15 years, the program has grown immensely. Over 150 kids have been involved, no longer from the dump, but from other underdeveloped neighbourhoods in the city. They have been given donations of top quality photography equipment, and these kids have done incredible things. Some have traveled the world (Japan, USA, Holland…) showing their photos at international exhibitions. Through photography connections, Nancy has found every kid a photography sponsor and a school sponsor, and every kid is in school with at least a 70% grade average. At least 6 kids have completed their university education, one being an indigenous woman who is now pursuing her masters in education. The kids also gain the opportunity to be employed by the NGO, as all the photography teachers are the older group of kids. So it’s pretty incredible. I’d say it was worth it for a trip to the city.

We met Deanna back at the mall and looked around for a bit. I had Subway for lunch, and it was incredible. I think it’s funny how given the choice to eat at a taco place in the food court, or a Subway, I chose a subway. Familiarity is nice. There is a McDonalds in Antigua, and every couple of weeks I’ll go get a McFlurry or some fries. When we’re surrounded by a totally different culture, we really do cling to things that remind us of home…even if they are a fast food restaurant…

Friday was a sad, and exciting day. The sad part was Alicia leaving. Alicia was one of my Korean roommates. We had three of them, Alicia, Kim and Min, and Alicia was the first to leave. She’s in Guatemala until November learning Spanish, but her sister lives in the city and is just about to give birth, so Alicia left to take care of her nephew. The amount of Korean people living in Guatemala City is incredible. I asked Min about why there are so many. He said that there aren’t very many jobs in Korea, but a lot qualified people. It’s a lot easier to get a job as a foreigner in the city here, so a lot of Koreans come here and work while they wait for the market to pick up back home. Since the 80s, the South Korean economy has been thriving, and everyone is very well educated there. But about 7 or 8 years ago, the South East Asian economy had a crash and they’ve been trying to recuperate. I’m so glad that they are here though. Koreans are amazing people. The softest, kindest group you will ever meet. I go volunteering with Min, Kim and Alicia every Thursday night. There is a Korean woman who comes in the from city once a week with a bunch of food. Anywhere between 7 and 20 volunteers show up, we prepare sandwiches and warm milk, and then we go hand it out around the city to people living in the streets.

Min and I with the food

Every Thursday night is an incredible experience for me. To see poverty in a city that seems so well off. It is hidden, but definitely exists. There is one home, across the street from McDonalds, that is hidden behind a jewelry store. It’s a whole bunch of tiny rooms with whole families living in them. We just go and give them something to eat once a week. It’s a pretty humbling experience. And the Koreans are just so kind. And last Thursday was Alicia’s last night, so Katie, Laurel and I went out with Min, Alicia and Kim, and their other Korean friends, Eric and Min#2. It was some of the most fun I’ve had since being here. They are just wonderful people.

Min, Alicia, Laurel, Me, Katy, Kim

On Friday, we went to the city again as a geography field trip. Our professor showed up Lake Amatitlan, a beautiful lake in the city that also serves as a huge garbage can for the residents nearby. It is so polluted and gross, and we were learning about AMSAs attempt to clean it up. We visited a landfill nearby (which was the most foul place I have smelt in my life) and a natural wetlands, which is an attempt to filter the community’s sewage water before it enters the lake. It was a really sad experience, because we saw the efforts of people who were trying so hard to clean up their lake and their city, but it seemed so useless. The residents of the city don’t understand the health and environmental implications of their practices and really don’t care. They’d rather not have a sewage treatment plant because the smell is bothersome. But this lake will have to become a major source of drinking water in the near future, and it is disgusting. There is such an inability to see future consequences here. And efforts to fix things seem futile. It can just be a little bit discouraging. I think we’re going to the city again tomorrow for a politics field trip. Our professor wants to take us to a housing development project. I’m hoping it pans out.

Sunday to Wednesday was the most incredible four days of traveling that we have done yet. We took a seven hour bus ride to the Eastern Highlands, close to the Mexican border, to a town called Todos Santos. Todos Santos is a Mam indigenous village that was hit incredibly hard by the civil war. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but somewhere around 1000 people from the area were killed in the war years. The village was invaded by both guerrillas and military and just ripped apart. Since the war ended, the community has started to mend itself, but there are still huge scars and they can be noticeable. The most famous recent lynching case in Guatemala took place in that town in 2001, when a Japanese tourist and her bus driver was killed. There had been a rumour going around about a group of Satan worshipers who were coming to take children. This group showed up, and the woman went around dressed all in black, taking pictures of children. The community got scared, and the woman was lynched. There is still a lot of fear in Todos Santos, but that was 6 years ago. It is an amazing community. When we went, they were so kind and so welcoming. We stayed with families in groups of two. I was with Katie, and we were in a home with more than 10 people living under one roof. There were at least 6 kids, though I’m not really sure how many, because at each meal, someone new always seemed to be there. At first they seemed really nervous around us and didn’t really say much. It was a little bit awkward. But on the second day, they just started talking, and were the friendliest, sweetest people. Katie and I were sharing a room that seemed to have just been plopped on the top of the house. It was all wooden, with plastic sheeting tapped around the walls to keep water out. And our little bed had at least 8 woolen blankets. And did we ever need them. It was FREEZING in the highlands, especially at night. And none of the homes had heating. I suppose it’s cheaper to invest in woolen blankets than a heating system. But it was a really cool experience to stay with that family. Very different from my home in Antigua.

Todos Santos in the Mountains

Katie with our many blankets.

On Monday morning, we went for a hike on La Torre, the highest non-volcanic peak in Guatemala. It was a pretty difficult hike, but worth it. We were over 4000 ft. high and the air was really thin and a little hard to breath, but the view was breathtaking. We could see the whole highland volcano range and the Mexican border. It was pretty amazing.

On Tuesday morning, we drove to Xayla (Quetzaltenango), the second largest city in the country. Talk about a change of scenery. I went from sleeping on a hard bed in a little wooden house with a wood pile and an old tire in my room, to staying in a beautiful upper end hotel with fireplaces and balconies and tvs in our rooms. Because there was a huge group of us, we got a giant discount and paid probably an eighth of what it would cost in Canada, but it was such a change from Todos Santos. The city of Xayla was nice, but didn’t seem to have much to offer. We walked around for a really long time and didn’t find a lot to do, so we hung out in the hotel for most of the time. Jesse, Taylor and Jared’s room was huge…it had six beds and four balconies, so it became the place to be. We played cards and a hilarious game of charades, and just relaxed after a physically and emotionally draining trip to Todos Santos.

The Wednesday trip home was long and a little uncomfortable, as my stomach hadn’t agreed with something that I ate the day before, but I made it in one piece. We stopped at a natural hot springs, which was beautiful, and then spent seven hours on a chicken bus (we charter them for most of our trips).

I’d say the highlight of the ride was the nut man. There’s a lot of construction going on for highway re-development, so we would be stopped for 20 minutes at a time. At these stop points, these guys carrying boxes of nuts, chips, fruit and drinks would coming running up to the bus trying to sell us snacks. At one point, we let a man selling nuts onto the bus and started buying from him. Then our bus started moving and couldn’t stop, because we were on the highway with a lot of cars behind us. So the nut man, very happy he’d sold a lot of nuts to us, just sat down, chatted, and stayed on our bus for a good twenty minutes until we hit a gas station. He was so relaxed. I thought that was amazing. At home, anyone would have been freaking out, not knowing how they’d get back to where they were supposed to be. But he just smiled and shrugged, sat down and ate some nuts. That’s a pretty good representation of Guatemala right there.

This has been a really long post, I apologize. I forgot to mention one thing. Adam left last week. He went to Nicaragua to go to a Spanish/surfing school. It was time that he left, as I know he was getting really bored in Antigua. But it kind of felt like we were losing part of our family. So it was a sad morning. It’s really easy to get attached to people here, but they come and go so often.

Sabrina, Laurel, Me, Katy, Adam waiting outside our house for Adam's shuttle to come pick him up.

The man who took Adam’s room is incredible. He is a 70ish year old American from California named John. We all sit at the table for hours after meals, just talking to John about his life. He has done amazing things. He was a high school English teacher, has traveled to over 100 countries (some 15 or 20 times), has written two movies, and is a lifelong bachelor. And he is so kind. I think he’d got me a little addicted to bread though. He bought jam and honey for our dinner rolls and one time bought this amazing, fresh French bread. I feel very blessed to have him living in our house.

Okay, I need to do homework. School is pretty intense right now, so I should get to it. I love you all and I hope you didn’t get too bored reading this really loooooooooong post. Ps. If you see my dad tomorrow, give him a big hug! He’s 53! Happy Birthday Dad!

Me feeding the beautiful but terrifying birds at the Copan ruins in Honduras.


Some of the restored ruins at Copan.



Sabrina and me in Copan


Deanna, Krysten, Me hanging out on the pryramids.


The San Felipe Castle outside of Rio Dulce. A couple hundred years ago it was burned down by Pirates and then rebuilt as a protective fortress against Pirates from the Carribean. Yes, they did actually exist...

The office of the AK Tenamit NGO where we stayed and volunteered.

This is a shot of the cave we climbed into and went swimming in.

The view of Tikal from the top of one of the pyramids. There is a shot similar to this in one the Star Wars movies.

Adam and I having a thoughtful moment on top of one of the temples.

I'm sitting on top of this one in this picture. I was veeeeeeeeeeerrry high.


Deanna, Me and Meghan right before going ziplining over the jungle canopy!

Nuevas Adventuras!

Holy cow I have neglected this. I've had a crazy month, and I hope I can get pictures on this with my sloooooooooooooow internet connection.

Since my last post what has happened...so much....classes have fully started. I was originally enrolled in 5 classes plus my spanish. There is an NGO class taught by Janey where we are split into sub groups and are evaluating NGOs in Guatemala. My group (me, Krysten and Meghan) have thus far evaluated 4, and I have myself visited two. It's been quite a beneficial experience to see the variety of NGOs out there, but also to see what to look for in an efficient organization that is truly serving the needs of a community. On Friday we're goingt to the city to talk to the lady who runs "Photo Kids" which is a children's photography project reminiscent of the documentary "Born into Brothels" for those who have seen it.

I'm also taking Clive's development economic class which I think I actually understood for the first time today. The incredible thing about this semester is the opportunity for hands on learning. Our class is doing a cost-benefit study of a development project in the country. The project Clive chose was to evaluate the effects (good and bad) of increasing tourism on the lake community of San Lucas Toliman (that we visited in February) by cleaning up a very polluted bay. My part of the project is to research the subsequent effects of tourism on the local sex trade. Ha. Imagine having to ask community members questions about one of the most taboo subjects within the culture.

We are taking two classes from Guatemalan professors, The Politics of Poverty and Environmental Geography. They are incredible professors and amazing classes. And finally, I began out taking a class on Central American Spanish literature from Magda the Costa Rican prof...but after having no idea what was going on for the first two weeks, I dropped that class.

I realize school really isn't that interesting to talk about...so I suppose I could let you know a little bit about my jungle adventures last week...

Clive thought it would be beneficial for us to take a significant chunk of time away from Antigua and really get to explore a different part of the country. So we took 9 days and travelled East. We split into two smaller groups and travelled in vans in the Guatemalan heat, and as we got closer to the Carribean, the humidity. My group crossed the border and went into Copan first. The border cracks me up. It was just a metal pole with a stop sign that lifts up dozens of men running around waving Honduran money around to exchange with you. What they failed to tell us was that Guatemalan Quetzales are accepted at almost any store and restaurant in Copan...so they are really just cheating you out of money. But Honduran money is a little prettier than Queztales...so hey...maybe it was worth it.

In Copan we visited the Mayan ruins and spent only one night exploring the modern city. It was very clean and beautiful...but we also saw not a single homeless person, or people peddling goods in the street. It was very different from the streets of Antigua that I'm used to.

After Honduras (which, by the way, has the ugliest postcards you could possibly find) we went North to Rio Dulce on the Carribean and spent four days and three nights at AK Tenamit, an NGO on a river off Lago Izabel. It was an incredible experience. The NGO services the 45 Q'eqche Mayan communities in the area with a health clinic, a high school, gender awareness, HIV awareness, a dental boat, a women's health program and community tourism development. We spent one day helping build a latrine, which really was not what I expected. The NGO did not need our volunteer help at all...they were really only "letting us help" to give us the experience of helping. Labour is cheap and not hard to find and when we got there, the NGO workers had to almost force the construction workers to let us help. They were friendly enough, there just wasn't that much we could do. I ended up lugging pails of sand up and down a very dangerous and rocky path for a couple of hours. Even so, I left feeling very unproductive and as if my contribution was well intentioned...but I really hadn't done anything.

The highlight of the NGO visit was the ecotour we were taken on. We went on a hike to a relatively isolated community at the top of the "mountain" the NGO was located at and were shown around the community. It's a very interestingly run community in that it's only real source of income are these tours that are run by a cooperative of men in the community. Other than that, they are mainly a subsistence community. They have huge cornfields that are owned by two men. Every family has a certain area that they come and farm and then are able to take the product back to their families, as long as the two owners get a certain amount of the product. It was fascinating to hear about. After visiting the town, they took us down into this beautiful cave, planted candles around the cave, and took us to a cliff that we all jumped off of and swam around in a dark, deep and beautiful pool. It was incredible. Though climbing back up the rock on a string ladder into a waterfall is one of the more difficult things I have done...

We finished off the trip with four days in the Northern jungle of Peten, where the ruins at Tikal are found. These are the most famous Mayan ruins and are featured in one of the starwars movies...I think one of the old ones. The ruins were absolutely incredible. And our guide was the spunkiest, most enthusiastic guide you could imagine. He was spewing information out of his ears, having us taste the plants, whipping out diagrams, drawing in the sand...it was hilarious. But I learned a lot. And climbed three or four temples. The last pyramid was only a little terrifying with about 6 flights of almost completely verticle wooden stairs. But it was amazing.

In Peten, we stayed on the Island of Flores. It was absolutely beautiful...and just happened to have a Guatemalan circus down the street from us. Did we go? Of course we went! 5 of us toddles down to the circus grounds. I hate the circus. I've always hated it. Ask my family...they go every year and I stay home. BUt...for some reason...I wanted to see it. And...it was crazy. I don't have much time to type...so I'll just say the craziest part was that guy who rides on his motor bike in the giant metal ball. It seemed pretty cool for the first three minutes. Until he wanted to make it more thrilling and stuck a 4 year old in the middle of the ball. I was appallled.

I need to run for lunch...so I think the only thing I'm not telling you about is the zip lining near TIkal....but I'll put up pictures in the next couple of days.

Adios mi amigos!

El Lago es la Vida

What a beautiful beautiful weekend! And by weekend I mean Sunday, Monday Tuesday. Spanish lessons are over and I had my final on Saturday (eeeeeeeeek!) and today we started regular classes. Development Economics on Wednesdays, Spanish Literature on Thursdays, Politics of Latin America and Environmental Geography of the Central American Region on Saturdays. So I suppopse I have to get used to bizzare weekends of Sunday to Tuesday.

Santiago de Atitlan

On Sunday morning, our whole group took a bus to Lago Atitlan, a beautiful lake and popular tourist destination about two and a half hours out of Antigua by bus. We first visited the town of Santiago which I can't say I really liked. It was really really touristy without being friendly the way Antigua is. I did however run into a heavenily earring stand with about 500 pairs of earrings to choose from...and I resisted and only bought one pair!

Chelsea in Santiago de Atitlan

Earrings!!!!!

Santiago is also the home of one of the Catholic-Mayan fusion God's, Maximon. I'm not sure that I totally understand that God. He is the God of Beer and Cigarette's, but I can't figure out if he is the Saint they pray to about their sins with beer and cigs, or if he is some sort of rebellious Saint to whom they pray to about revenge on others. I can't seem to figure it out. Anyways, it was very interesting. The Mayan religion exists along with the Catholic traditions of the people. And they contradict each other as well. But there is such a desire to hold onto the indigenous traditions, even with a belief and acceptance in Christianity.

After Santiago, we visited the site of the mudslide in October 2005. I need to correct my other post about the mudslide...haha, this is what happens when my Spanish isn't amazing. When Volcan de Agua broke, it was a couple hundred years ago, and it destroyed Ciudad Viaja, they town in which we volunteered at the school. The mudslide was caused by a build up of water in the volcanoes near the lake after Hurricane Stan last year. A large crater broke at 6 in the morning and covered an entire town, killing I believe 7000 people. We visited the sight, but couldn't walk very far into it because there are gangs in the hills and it isn't a secure area. We did however get to visit the temporary housing that the government set up for the displaced families. Luis (Lisa's husband) acted as our guide. He's from San Lucas, a neighbouring town on the lake and was part of the response crew that helped after the slide. He said the Guatemalan government should be ashamed of the help they have given to their own people. A year and a half later, they are still living in metal and cloth housing that was mainly supplied by international NGO's. And Luis predicts that many of the families (there are about 3oo right now) will stay permantently in the settlement, as they can't afford to move. It was ridiculous. There are still houses on the other side of the roof that are completely covered in mud, with possessions and probably bodies inside. It was quite a disturbing sight to see.

10 of us took the bus to Luis's hometown of San Lucas on the lake. Our accomodations were amazing! Luis's family is quite well off and prominent in the town, as they own a very successful 500 Acre Organic coffee farm. His sister has a huge property on the lake that they built a GIGANTIC seven level mansion with two hot tubs, a pool, a bunk house for friends, luxurious bathrooms and kitchen and beautiful balconies. However...when they built it, they cleared ALL of the trees and didn't build any drainage. When Hurricane Mitch hit 7 years ago, the entire house fell into the lake. All that was left was the original kitchen and bunk house. Which is still beautiful. So 10 of us stayed in a giant room that looked like a rustic cabin with 15 beds in it.

Katie and I on top of the ruins.

Looking up at what used to be an amazing house.

Katie looking down at the lake.

Over the town of San Lucas

The Lake was beautiful...we took a boat ride and jumped in in our clothes. On Monday night, we had Lisa, Luis and her kids over and had a BBQ with hot dogs and marshmellows.

The Volcan de Atitlan

Adam swimming in the lake

It was a wonderful weekend. Now classes have started. I have a politics exam on Friday that I deferred from last semester, so I should get to studying! (or possibly watching movies with my housemates...)

With my amazing housemates!!! Laurel, Katie, Adam, Sabrina, me!

Lots of Love!!

Photographias!

The kids at the Proyecto Mosaico School in Ciudad Viaja. The Cutten Club in Guelph very kindly donated a load of tennis balls.

With my little hyperactive little friend from the school- Ulyssa. You'll never need to go to the gym ever agin if you walk with this little one.

Two of the kids with their grandparents.

Clive Offered to give me a break from throwing Ulyssa up and down...over...and over...and over...and over...

The view of Antigua from Café Sky

Keidie, Yenn and Allan (our Spanish names...) also known as Katie, Jenn and Adam. Two of my fabulous roommates!

Adam showing us that's it's possible to actually frown.

Vida es bontia!

Me hace falta Ustedes!!! Life has changed quite drastically since my last post. Sabrina and I moved almost a week ago into a house very close to the school and the centre of town. Patty was a wonderful house mom, but I thinkI've become a paranoid person and really was not experiencing Antigua when I wouldn't leave my house past six. We moved into a fairly large house with a lovely surprise...two other students from Guelph are living there as well! Laurel Gaylor (chica bonita) and Katie Mac! And the other surprise was Adam, an 18 year old Canadian from Winnipeg who is taking a year off before going to Carlton for Political studies. He's studying at another school in Antigua, but has pretty much amalgamated himself into our large group. Sabrina, Laurel, Katie, Adam and I have become a tight-knit little family. Haha. Before I didn't want to leave my house because I didn't feel safe, and now I don't want to leave my house because I have so much fun in it! Our house mother's name is Ahilde, (I can't pronounce it, so I just call her Señora) and she lives in this huge house just with her sick aunt. And a lot of boarders. There are the five of us Canadians, an older Guatemalan man named Don Conrado (I think he's around 80, but it's a mystery that no one knows for sure) and 3 Koreans. The Koreans are hilarious. They don't speak any English, so we communicate in Spanish. I can tell that I've started to really get a hold on the language when we are able to make jokes in it. The dinner table is a funny time. And Don Conrado is fascinating. He is totally fluent in English, as he taught it at the University when he was younger. He has a son that lives in Kelowna, so he's pretty familiar with Canadians. He's very quiet, but when we start to talk to him, he's very willing to share about himself.

We've had a couple cool experiences with a school in Ciudad Viaja (a smaller town beside Antigua) in the past few weeeks. Our group was able to get connected with an NGO called "Proyecto Mosaico" and have been involved with this particular project. Last year, the NGO opened a school in Ciudad Viaja for kids who can't afford to pay school fees. CV has a lot more poverty than Antigua, and even public school is difficult for a lot of children to attend. PMG bought an old house and converted it into a school that can take 25 students ages 5-12. They are taught basic reading, writing and math skills, along with art, acting, music, sewing, cooking, nutrition, gardening and other basic skills. The fees are about half of those of a public school-- about 5 dollars a month, and even so, many parents can still not afford it. So the NGO funds scholarships for about half of the kids. It's a tiny building without electricity and the water isn't totally hooked up. But it's an education that these kids would never have the opportunity to experience otherwise. So our group volunteered to do some clean up and painting for the school. We've spent the last to weekends cleaning up the yard and painting the walls (I'm not too sure our painting of the Mayan calender looked to authentic...haha...but they really appreciated it). But the coolest part was the week before when we went to the school and met all of the children. All 25 of them brought us home to see where they live and meet there families. I have never been so close to poverty in my life. The spaces where whole families of 8 or 10 people live are the size of my backyard. And their chickens and dogs and pigs and vegetables are all in the same place. But they were so welcoming. And so proud to show us their homes. I was really taken aback by that. But it was a blessing. I have some pictures that I want to put up, but the internet connection where I am is too slow, so I'll put them up tomorrow hopefully.

I'm off to lunch...escribiré un orto vez tan pronto como pueda!

Time for a real post!!

Hola Amigos!! While I have time, I’ll write a complete post about what I’ve been up to. Guatemala is absolutely BEAUTIFUL as you will see in the pictures I’m putting up below. Antigua is a smallish colonial style city in the interior of the country. It’s up in the highlands, so it is relatively dry, and it is surrounded by volcanoes—Volcan de Fuego, Volcan Pacaya and Volcan de Agua. Volcan de Agua (water) is called that because its crater used to be a large lake. As many of you may know, in October 2005 the wall of the crater broke causing a huge mudslide that killed thousands of people in one of the towns of Lago Atitlan on the other side of Volcan de Agua. Guatemala is not a stranger to such disasters. In 1976, a huge earthquake killed about 3000 people in Antigua, and destroyed much of the city. My Maestria (Spanish teacher) recalled in detail the night of the earthquake that happened when she was a teenager. She lost an aunt in the disaster. I’ve realized what a luxury it is to live in a place where I never wake up fearing a major natural disaster.

The town is precious. The streets are cobble stoned (mighty good for the calves I have discovered) and as it is a Spanish centre, there are people from all over the world. There is a Japanese student named Toshi living in my house for the month of January. He’s learning Spanish so he can continue on in other parts of the country for the next two years teaching in the primary schools. I live in the North East corner of the town on Calle Candelaria, about as far from the school as you could get. Haha. I love Patty (my house Madre) so much, but we may end up being moved just because of the distance. It can get dark quickly and it’s important to be in a well populated area. We’ll see what happens.

My Maestria’s name is Nivea. She is wonderful! She’s born and raised in Antigua, and now lives with her husband next to her three grown up children and their children. She’s very interested in world issues and we get talking about everything. My vocabulary has expanded a lot and I’m learning to describe almost everything in Spanish. This morning I told her all about NightLight, the drop-in centre I volunteer at in Guelph. In the past I’ve explained the Canadian governmental system to her, Canadian climate and geography, the Rwandan genocide, Project Serve Mississippi, and we had quite a lengthy conversation about midgets. I don’t know exactly how that one started. We often talk about religion. She is a Pentecostal, which is very common in all parts of Guatemala…except Antigua. Antigua is very traditional and very Catholic. There are some beautiful churches here and almost every week there seems to be a Catholic celebration. Today is the day of a Saint from Guatemala. (I can’t remember his name) But it began with firecrackers at four in the morning. Lovely way to wake up. Haha. But I’m used to it…they set them off early in the morning whenever it’s anyone’s birthday. And it always seems to be someone’s birthday.

This past weekend was WONDERFUL!! All 43 of us (students, Clive, Janey, Magda, Lisa, her husband Luis and their three children) piled into a rented chicken bus and drove two hours to Monterrico. Montericco is a beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean close to the El Salvador border. We took over a cute beach side hotel and made ourselves at home for the weekend. Monterrico was very different from Antigua in more ways than replacing the cobblestones with sand. It felt very very safe. I never got nervous the way I sometimes do walking down the street in Antigua, especially when it starts to get dark. And there were tons of pigs…just sauntering down the middle of the road. There were kids everywhere! I think they are very used to tourists and used to being cooed over. They knew exactly how to pose for pictures…and they loved to grab our cameras and take them. Haha. It’s reminded me of the movie Born into Brothels to see all these little kids snapping photos. But it was sweet. For dinner on Friday night, all 40ish of us piled onto the rooftop patio restaurant of the hotel. I was so impressed with our little waiter. He was the only one on duty…had had a pretty chill afternoon, and all of a sudden 40 hungry 20something year olds arrive and it was only him and his buddy in the kitchen. He was a trooper.

We had our first development economics class at the beach. I’m really excited for that class. Clive told us all about a project that we will be doing while we’re here. It’s called a Cost-Benefit report. We will choose a hypothetical (or possibly one already in progress) development project in Guatemala, in collect data to analyze the total cost (financial, social, environmental, cultural, health) of the project, and ultimate benefit to the community. Oye am I glad I didn’t take that class in the fall. This will be a great experience. And I have decided that I really like my coordinator Clive and his wife Janey. They are mid 60’s, both from South Africa and came to Canada I think in their late 20’s for Clive to take an economics PHD. They’ve done incredible things since then, including a CUSO project in Kenya for 2 years and several of the Guelph India Semesters abroad. Clive just retired from the University of Guelph’s Economic department, and this is his last big thing before they really settle down (if that’s really possible for those two). But they are nuts and tell fabulous stories and I really enjoy them.

We took a half an hour boat ride from a little canal town to Monterrico...the scenery was beautiful.

How we fit 43 people in this tiny little boat...I have not idea. It was hot. I think because we were all sweaty we couldn´t smell eachother.

Two of our little Guatemalan friends--Carmello and Eduardo.

Iguanas from the wildlife conservation project. Alisha! I found our lizards!!

I feel very blessed to have be able to see a sunset this beautiful.

The waves were freakishly strong...but my brave little pro swimmer Emilie had the time of her life!

The sunrise (I actually saw both the sunset and the sunrise!) at six o´clock on Sunday morning.

Some tired chicas on an early morning eco-tour boat ride...

I´ve been making some new wonderful friends here...but it has really made me appreciate the close ones I have at home. This is my fabulous best friend from Calgary, Rochelle. She´s studying social work at Mount Royal College and is going to change people´s lives.

I hope that as the new semester has started that you are all feeling happy and satisfied with where you are! I miss you all!